STRAYDOG blog

November 4, 2011

Your Brand Ecosystem

Every brand is built by a community, it is a complete ecosystem that must work in harmony to be successful.

This is how it works:

At the centre of the ecosystem “your company” is your leadership — an individual or group of partners who’s vision forms the company. The leader is the life that nurtures the entire ecosystem. Next are the people — staff, directors, and other contributors who believe in the leader’s vision. These individuals contribute their expertise, experience and perspectives to the company, but more significantly they participate in a shared purpose.

After that is the product (or service). The product is the thing that the people make. They make it well when they share a common purpose. They share a common purpose when the leadership unites them around a compelling vision. The product/or service must be supported by a strategy, as that is the plan that will help deliver the product to the right people in the right way.

And then there is design. Design is the language that supports the strategy that promotes the product, which is imagined by people that believe in the vision. If you want to be a great brand, you must work from the inside out. A great logo will not make a terrible product any less terrible, any more than a hard worker is going to make a bad boss a compelling leader. The inner core “The Messaging, Vision and Purpose” affects the outer, not the other way around (with the possible exception that a well-articulated brand can help employees feel pride in their organization which can, for a time, boost morale).

At Straydog, our Vancouver branding experts have developed a Brand Discovery Process that’s designed to take you from the inside out. It helps us understand your current brand and it prescribes an orderly chain of messaging and relationships which nurtures the brand. This process of developing effective brand messaging is not easy, but the reward is worth the effort, as a carefully considered messaging system allows you to dramatize the uniqueness of your brand and spread the word effectively.

The outcome of the discovery for new brands also sets the foundation for a successful brand design — one that conveys the brand’s key messaging. For existing brands, this process may reveal a strong and vibrant brand – or it may illuminate missing areas and lack of focus. If the latter is the case, it opens the door for discussion on these points and will help you gain a clearly focused vision of your brand.

As brand strategy experts, we are more than your average designer… we know how to ask the tough questions, and although a design methodology can be useful in identifying need, discovering opportunity, developing insight and driving innovation, the elements such as the messaging, vision, promise and purpose, that drive the success of an organization, are two layers deeper than most average designers are equipped to go.

And without design it will be a lot harder to articulate your message — design occupies a powerful space — mediating the interface between brands and the context in which they live. Design is the mediator between consumer and product, between message and audience. It is a position of profound influence limitless potential…